How was the Synesthaesia lecture? I was supposed to attend but got out of work too late. And I missed the chance to meet Gutenberg!

Patrick

Gutenberg replies:

Dear Patrick,

We thought the lecture was great. Professor Robertson’s presentation was engaging and enlightening. Synestesia is the blending of one of more senses, which occurs in approximately 1 in 23 people. The Rat in Ratatouille is probably one of the better known synesthetes.

Sorry we missed you.

-G

We also got some Bunrab email about our visit to La Cocina Community Kitchen. This hub for culinary entrepreneurs is a great launching pad for those without padded wallets. Check out their site for a list of the local businesses hatching in this incubator.

We were glad that we got to the Axis Café a half hour early for Ask a Scientist. At 6:30, we got the last two good seats and the kitchen was struggling to keep up with the deluge of orders created by synesthesia enthusiasts.

Professor Lynn Robertson of UC Berkeley spoke about the blending of perceptions:

... as we combined our interest in her lecture with chowing down on a turkey sandwich on baguette ($8.00):

... with limp bacon and Pecorino cheese. Bacon is usually a culinary booster seat, but not in the case of this turkey.

Grilled cheese ($4.00):

... wasn’t melted, but at least the outside had a toasted char to it. I checked my receipt when we got back to the cyberhutch and they are cheating themselves out of a buck in the translation from the menu to the register. This seems to be a trend in San Francisco restaurants when they raise their prices, they forget to enter it in the computer and short change themselves.

To be fair, we had past experiences at Axis Café that led us to believe that it’s more of a filling station with a nice outdoor space than a destination eatery. We do love them for hosting this event at no charge (other than the chow.)

The standing room only crowd was thoroughly engaged in this 2 hour lecture organized by Juliana Gallin.

After paying, we sat down in front of a bank of screens all tuned to sports while we waited for our Wing Ding ($4.99):

... with four of their signature fried chicken wings over crisp, crinkle cut fries. The meat was moist and the well seasoned skin was crunchy. Their Wing Ding is a less than a fin din.

Micki’s Munchies ($16.99):

... is a deep fried assortment of 3 pieces of fish, 3 oysters, 3 prawns and 3 wings. We chose catfish (which doubles as the mascot of this eatery/bar) It was dredged in seasoned flour before its visit to the hot oil. These simple chunks of seafood were satisfying, but the neighboring prawns weren’t my thing - they had that thick breaded coating which was more generic than special.

The oysters made up for their shrimpy cousin. A crunchy batter shell replaced the one they used to live in - I would order these creamy centered bivalves again. Three more of those chicken wings came with this combo as well as some red beans and rice (which we chose over fries, slaw or potato salad.)

The people who work here are friendly and efficient. As we were getting ready to go, the cook passed by and asked if we knew anyone who was interested in buying the place (since she is going to retire.) We hope that the next owner keeps the fryer going as well as the current owner does in this fun and funky neighborhood sports bar.

We had a half hour to grab a bite and we found few venue options at 6:30 p.m. in this nabe where the eat-it-and-beat-it selections appeared to be mostly burger chains.

Sellers Markets prepared our chow super quick (we were the only customers at that time.)

Chubby got the pulled pork sandwich ($8.95):

... in a Boulangerie Bay Bread soft roll. The bland slaw didn’t do much for this sweet other-white-meat mitt. A kick of heat would have been welcome but I think that they are catering to the general office crowd that may not want anything caliente. The side salad was overdressed with an aggressive garlicy vinaigrette that did its best to drown out the greens.

I got the veggie melt ($7.95):

Caramelized onions, peppers and chopped shrooms weren’t heated through but the jack cheese was melted over these chilly vegetables. Even with its unheated core, it was more flavorful than Chubby’s selection.

We wouldn’t order either of these again, but we may grab one of their thin crust pizzas the next time we have a half hour food window near this counter service eatery - as their name indicates this Market Street counter service eatery isn’t driven by the buyers, but even so, we appreciate their use of local, sustainable and organic products.

We decided to check out the latest addition to the repertoire at Rustic Bakery - dinner.

They make one entrée to eat in or take away. Tonight’s preparation was a beef and olive stew named something fancy like, “Boeuf a la Nicoise” ($9.95):

... which we brought back to the cyberhutch.

This was just the thing for a rainy night. They packed it up with the buttered noodles separated from the stew with a couple of slices of their house-made seed bread for sopping purposes:

The tender chunks of beef in a rich tomato enriched sauce with some nicely salty olives was what you would expect a solid, home cooked, un-restauranty dinner to be (and it was a good deal for just under a tenner.)

They make up a different entrée each night (but not on Sundays.) You can pick up dinner after 5 p.m., and if you are into rabbit food, add on a salad for a couple extra bucks.

Those Rustic folks are better in the kitchen than at their website, when we asked for credit for some of our bunrab.com photos that we found on their pix page, they attributed them to “bunrub.com” which sounds kinda porno. To be fair, we don’t go to this bakery for their internet prowess… and they are named “rustic”.